Helping Those in Need

As a school field trip, about two weeks ago, all of the M4s went to A "UNHCR", refugee center for women and children. Our teacher put us into groups of 3, that including one Azeri speaker, so we could communicate with the people in the center. Originally we were told that it was a refugee camp we were going to be visiting, however it turned out to be a refugee center. This meaning, that the refugees don't actually live there. Our assignment given by our teacher, was to come up with 5 questions to interview the refugees there. Some of their stories were amazing. Almost all came form Afghanistan, and had learned to speak Azeri, Nara (the Azeri speaker in our group) was easily able to communicate with them.
There was a girl our age from Afghanistan still in the 7th grade. I'm sure her schooling was slowed because of the war. She spoke a bit of English, and told us she was all alone here in Azerbaijan. She is not here with her family.
Another mother said that a man brought them here. They thought they were going to the US, but instead they ended up here. Pretty different, huh?
One family even came here by car.
Everyone said they were happier here than they had been in Afghanistan, though. They said it was much too dangerous to live their presently. Some said they would go back, if the war ceased and it became safe to live there once more, while others said they would not, and that they were happy here.
















One of the M4 teachers also came up with the idea of bringing goody bags for the children filled with candy. Some other kids and I helped to pass these out to the children. There were little twisty ties holding the bag closed, and some of the children just stood there with there goody bags, not quite sure what to do and how to open the bags. So I went around, and mimicked to the kids how to untie it, and pointed to myself, to see if they would like help. This little girl pictured above, just stared at me, and held out her bag for me to help. It was very cute, she was such a solemn little girl. She didn't even act excited at all when we passed out the candy. But obviously, she enjoyed it. :)

There was also a child's play room equipped with toys, like a dollhouse, building blocks...and a room full of children! TISA students passed some free time, after the interviews, playing ping-pong with the children.

Checkers was a hit!

This happy child was extremely enthusiastic with his pen and paper. I believe he enjoyed showing off his artist skills with such a large audience.

















The girl in all red was posing for pictures all over the place! She would point at the camera to get my attention, then strike a pose and wait for the flash. Then she would urgently point again to see the picture. It was the most exciting thing for her to see her photograph!! Most likely, she has never encountered a digital camera in her life. She has probably seen them, but never actually had an experience with one before.

Hey fellow with the chair! Take it easy, let's not throw a tantrum just yet, wait till I'm out of the way! No, this kid was just playing. =)


























Hey mommy! WE MATCH!!!!























NAP-TIME!! zzzzzzzzzz....snore....zzz



















Quitterie and the kiddies in the dangerous play structure...The play structure had no ladder. Children were just hauling themselves up by pure arm strength. Hey, well at least it's a good way to get those macho-super-fine arms.

I'm very grateful that I got a chance to visit this refugee center. I know this sounds corny, but I really do think that it impacted my life. Hearing all of those sad stories for real, not just on TV, made me realize how fortunate I am. I can't imagine being in one of these people's position. Especially the 14 year old girl. Imagine being in a strange country all alone....

I'm glad to say that most everyone seemed happy. All of us from TISA certainly enjoyed our time spent there as much as the young children seemed to. However, the refugees did say they were lacking in some basic necessities such as clothes and food. The center said they were also in need of books and more modern computers. M4 has made it our community service project to make enough money to help these people. In groups, we came up with ideas that we're going to put into action. As a whole, we've decided to hold a car wash, as well as holding bake sales. My group came up with some ideas as well. One small idea was to fill a jar with different types of candy, and have kids pay to guess how many pieces are in the jar. Then, which ever kids guess was the closest gets the whole jar to take home! I know it. My ideas are the best. :)

Well, till later my readers!

-Marlys